July 21st: SM131 - Musashi VS Kojiro! A Battlefield of Love and Truth!!

[Twilight-Kun]

Mareanie and Mimikyu battling using their affection for their trainers would be a nice touch

Make that Jessie/Mimikyu episode all those years ago finally mean something

Plus, Mimikyu has been in a Luxury Ball all this time...

 

[DuquÊ?]

Does someone actually expect James pull a win? Whenever they fight, Jessie is always the favorite, but, since mimikyu is completly uninterested when there's no pikachu around and wobbuffet depends of be attacked...

 

[DatsRight]

The odds are hard to speculate. James only has Mareanie and I suspect Jessie will browbeat him for the Z Ring, but Mimikyu doesn't care about any battles that lack Pikachu blood to spill.

I suppose if they use more than one Pokemon, Jessie has Wobbuffet, whose a deceptive badass when used. James at best can convince Meowth to fight who, outside very sporadic instances, is less so.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Does someone actually expect James pull a win? Whenever they fight, Jessie is always the favorite, but, since mimikyu is completly uninterested when there's no pikachu around and wobbuffet depends of be attacked...

It's really easy to incentivize Mimikyu to fight.

"If you beat James here, you'll be one step closer to a rematch with Pikachu!"

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Also, this fight probably means Jessie knocks out Pikarla in the opening round since she also uses Pikachu.

 

[Red and Blue]

Also, this fight probably means Jessie knocks out Pikarla in the opening round since she also uses Pikachu.

Good point. Can't wait to see the look on her Pikachu's face when Mimikyu comes charging

 

[Remmie]

Would be a good episode for Mareanie to evolve and beat Mimikyu out of love for James, her love for James beating Mimikyu's hatred for Pikachu, confirming love always win against hate.

 

[pancakemonster]

I expect Jessie to win but James really should. Realistically there's no reason for Mimikyu to fight (the shot at a rematch in a later round doesn't really matter when they attack Ash all the time anyway) and James should know Wobbufet enough to not fall for its tricks. An evolution and win for James here would be great but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Would be a good episode for Mareanie to evolve and beat Mimikyu out of love for James, her love for James beating Mimikyu's hatred for Pikachu, confirming love always win against hate.

When I watched M20, I remarked that because of it being a new canon, it could do things that the anime douldn't due to the marketing/continuity obligation.

During the climax of that movie, Charmeleon evolved into Charizard to defeat Cross' Incineroar; Incineroar dominated earlier in the film. The movie was able to set this up because Charmeleon wasn't forced to evolve earlier.

That carries over to Alola - one of the advantages of a league where many Pokemon are unevolved is we can see mid-battle evolutions. The last one to happen in a tournament was Krookodile...and before that, I think it was Kingler way back in Kanto. For any trainer it was Cameron and his Riolu.

I think the anime's overdue for this. It could be argued Mimikyu is Jessie's all-time strongest Pokemon. Toxapex would definitely be James'.

 

[BulleDeChagrin]

I know there's a lot that could be disappointing about this, but I can not allow myself to be negative, as I am SO EXCITED about Jessie & James having a battle!

 

[Redstar45]

When I watched M20, I remarked that because of it being a new canon, it could do things that the anime douldn't due to the marketing/continuity obligation.

During the climax of that movie, Charmeleon evolved into Charizard to defeat Cross' Incineroar; Incineroar dominated earlier in the film. The movie was able to set this up because Charmeleon wasn't forced to evolve earlier.

That carries over to Alola - one of the advantages of a league where many Pokemon are unevolved is we can see mid-battle evolutions. The last one to happen in a tournament was Krookodile...and before that, I think it was Kingler way back in Kanto. For any trainer it was Cameron and his Riolu.

I think the anime's overdue for this. It could be argued Mimikyu is Jessie's all-time strongest Pokemon. Toxapex would definitely be James'.

That has done before and sun and moon anime still followed the continuity of a past series and Takeshi and kasum episode show us that Satoshi's Hitokaga still catching in same way in the original series episode.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

This is a cool concept but.... not exactly fair. They've only got one z-ring, and let me guess who'll use it. Hint: Not James
I hope James ends up winning, but the writers always seem to favor Jessie more for some reason so I'm not going to hold out too much. James is the more popular of the two... don't see why she always get the special treatment, BW is the only one she didn't but they barely did anything with either there. I'd love it if James somehow won because I've always wanted to see the guy get a high position in an official competition, Jessie's done that twice(Sinnoh Grand Festival, and the Master Class thing). Let James have a turn, damn it! -.-
Perfect time for a Mareanie evolution too, seeing how unbalanced the battle will likely be. At least this is more fair than say, Meltan evolving to beat up Silvally or Torracat evolving to kick Charizard's ass. It's actually an unbalanced battle and thus, mid-battle evolution surprise gets a free pass!



Guzma battling the Team Rocket winner would be fine, given they actually have history. It's better than somebody else facing Team Rocket anyways

Well, if Mallow beats Lana (literally against all odds) she'd probably be the one to defeat the Rocket winner because if anyone can effortlessly curbstomp Team Rocket, it's Mallow

But then we'd lose out on Kiawe vs Lana where he finally gets revenge for the humiliation he's suffered at her hands over the years...

My money's on Lana and Mallow knocking each other out while Bewear kidnaps Team Rocket because she doesn't want to see her kids fight

 

[WaterShuriken]

Sophocles vs Mina.. yeah We'll see Twinkle Tackle. Hopefully. Vikavolt will tank it though. With Togedemaru somehow helping him win the Battle Roayle, it would be a crime against Vikavolt to have him lose here.

Jessie vs James, I DID NOT see that coming, and it's an interesting twist.

Jessie has more experience with Contest Battles, but that doesn't necessarily translate onto Mimikyu. Mimikyu is strong but it has to be provoked. James is a smarter battler than Jessie as seen in his Contest Match vs Dawn so he could win. The question is who has the Z-Ring? Hopefully Meowth confiscates it and refuses to give it to either of them until the match is over. Hopefully Bewear is a good mom and doesn't bring her children home. So crazy to think that one Team Rocket member will be in the Top 16 of the Alola League and the other AT LEAST Top 8.

Since they are fitting 4 matches in the last episode, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to fit in the other 4 matches. The only question is who are the remaining participants.

Kiawe
Lillie
Gladion are the best bets but the last lost goes to?

Plumeria?
Acerola?
Kahili?

If it's Acerola she can showcase the Ghost type Z-Move, unless she does that already in the BR.
I wanna see Kahili kick ass though as she is and Elite Four member as well. Who ever it is though, will probably fail against Kiawe. Who who knows?

I would like to see a Toucannon in battle. Ooooh a Supersonic Skystrike collision between Charizard and Toucannon...

Acerola I like you but Kahili might have the battle match.

 

[Leonhart]

Does someone actually expect James pull a win? Whenever they fight, Jessie is always the favorite, but, since mimikyu is completly uninterested when there's no pikachu around and wobbuffet depends of be attacked...

I think Mimikkyu would battle with some encouragement from Musashi. What bothers me about this battle isn't so much who might win it, but the fact that Kojirou only has one choice of Pokemon whereas Musashi has two. Would it have killed the writers to have given him another Pokemon a few episodes prior to the Alola League?

 

[Sham]

I think Mimikkyu would battle with some encouragement from Musashi. What bothers me about this battle isn't so much who might win it, but the fact that Kojirou only has one choice of Pokemon whereas Musashi has two. Would it have killed the writers to have given him another Pokemon a few episodes prior to the Alola League?

Probably because Wobbuffet doesn’t count. It’s not like it’s a new capture in this region anyway. It’s mostly used for gimmicky purposes and barely battles. As far as I’m concerned Jessie only has Mimikyu.

 

[Zoruagible]

Probably because Wobbuffet doesn’t count. It’s not like it’s a new capture in this region anyway. It’s mostly used for gimmicky purposes and barely battles. As far as I’m concerned Jessie only has Mimikyu.

Wobbuffet can be pretty damn OP though, when the writers care enough that is... it's an on-off thing

It sure was interesting when both TRio members had more than one battle Pokemon though... now that they only have one a piece, it actually does feel repetitive when they attack. Especially when it came to Inkay, who never changed or gained new moves :/
If Mareanie really does evolve here, I think that's basically proof enough that the TRio Pokemon are staying for Galar. Mimikyu's popular, and they don't seem to be making effort at giving closure to it's Pikachu hatred... it'd be better if they stayed, so so much better....
I'm still baffled as to why Gourgeist and Inkay couldn't stay, their species literally live in Alola. And the two could have benefited greatly from staying, especially Inkay. Darknium for James would have made a heck of a lot more sense then... come to think of it, James needs to win so we can see him pull off the Dark z-move on the next round. Poor guy's barely gotten to use it compared to Jessie

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Wobbuffet can be pretty damn OP though, when the writers care enough that is... it's an on-off thing

It sure was interesting when both TRio members had more than one battle Pokemon though... now that they only have one a piece, it actually does feel repetitive when they attack. Especially when it came to Inkay, who never changed or gained new moves :/
If Mareanie really does evolve here, I think that's basically proof enough that the TRio Pokemon are staying for Galar. Mimikyu's popular, and they don't seem to be making effort at giving closure to it's Pikachu hatred... it'd be better if they stayed, so so much better....
I'm still baffled as to why Gourgeist and Inkay couldn't stay, their species literally live in Alola. And the two could have benefited greatly from staying, especially Inkay. Darknium for James would have made a heck of a lot more sense then... come to think of it, James needs to win so we can see him pull off the Dark z-move on the next round. Poor guy's barely gotten to use it compared to Jessie

That's mostly when acting on its own. Jessie isn't the brightest when it comes to knowing whether to use Counter or Mirror Coat. I'm also hoping James wins here, unless he pulls of Black Hole Eclipse in tomorrow's episode and thus Jessie gets the Z-Ring for their match. Mareanie should evolve either way.

 

[DatsRight]

I kinda hope Wobbuffet gets a moment in the league though. He's only been used twice this series, and only under the condition his opponent had the advantage against him for once. That's underuse even for him. Where's our Wobbuffet vs Lycanroc counter battle?

They oddly used Meowth a lot this series though, likely because they had to lower the goalposts THAT much so the non-battlers could win easily against them. Shame since at least some halfway challenging TR battles might have given both sides genuine experience leading up to this arc.

 

[Emelie]

I think I would prefer if Musashi and Mimikyu won. It would be better character development which Mimikyu unfortunately has very little of. I think it would be cool if Acerola and her nice Mimikyu were the ones that beat Musashi's Mimikyu. It would probably affect Mimikyu more than being beaten by Mareanie even if the idea of love conquering hate sounds lovely.

 

[Bortgreen]

I kinda hope Wobbuffet gets a moment in the league though. He's only been used twice this series, and only under the condition his opponent had the advantage against him for once. That's underuse even for him. Where's our Wobbuffet vs Lycanroc counter battle?

They oddly used Meowth a lot this series though, likely because they had to lower the goalposts THAT much so the non-battlers could win easily against them. Shame since at least some halfway challenging TR battles might have given both sides genuine experience leading up to this arc.

Well, this is the same season TR almost defeated Ash if it wasn't for Bewear